AT&T Secures Nationwide 10x10 MHz AWS-3 Spectrum for $18.2 Billion

AT&T will pay $18.2 billion as the winning bidder on a near nationwide contiguous 10x10 MHz block of AWS-3 spectrum in the FCC's just completed Auction 97. The licenses cover 307 million people representing 96 percent of the U.S. population and 96 of the Top 100 U.S. markets. AT&T said this spectrum includes 57 percent of MHz POPs covered by the valuable J-block of AWS-3 spectrum. “Growth in our customers’ mobile data usage continues to...

Read More

Verizon Spends $10.4 Billion at FCC's Spectrum Auction

Verizon Communications was the winning bidder or 181 licenses in the FCC's AWS-3 spectrum auction.  The company bid  $10.4 billion in total.  The licenses cover 192 million POPs, or 61 percent of the United States. http://www.verizon.com http://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-statement-aws-3-auction-result...

Read More

Dish Network is a Big Spender in Auction

Dish Network, acting through its subsidiaries Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless License Co, was the winning bidder on 702 spectrum licenses in the FCC's recently completed AWS-3 auction.  Dish's bids topped $13.3 billion, however the company qualified for a 25% discount by filing as a small business under FCC rules. Dish Network currently does not operate any cellular networks. Full auction results are posted here: http://transition.fc...

Read More

BT Outlines its G.fast Ambitions

BT CEO Gavin Patterson today set out the company’s ambition to transform the UK broadband landscape from superfast to ultrafast. BT outlined plans to deliver much faster broadband for homes and small businesses via a widespread deployment of G.fast, enabling speeds of up to 500 Mbps. Trial deployments to two pilot locations (Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Gosforth, Newcastle) are expected this summer to around 4,000 homes. If successful, BT anticipates...

Read More

SolarWinds Acquires Librato for Cloud Monitoring

SolarWinds, which specializes in IT performance management solutions, has acquired Librato, a San Francisco-based cloud monitoring company, for a cash purchase price of $40 million. Librato currently enables full-stack performance monitoring of infrastructure and applications on public clouds such as AWS and Heroku, or in a company’s own data centers using a rich set of OSS data collection agents and instrumentation libraries for a variety of...

Read More

NTT Com Connects Phones and Digital Signs with WebSocket and WebRTC

NTT Communications is testing WebSocket and WebRTC protocols to connect smartphones with digital signage.  The idea is to provide a convenient method for people to download things such as sightseeing information or disaster response information directly from a digital sign. The test will be conducted at Mihama Town Resort American Village (American Village) in Chatancho, Okinawa Prefecture during the month of February. NTT Com will encourage...

Read More

FCC Raises $45 Billion in AWS-3 Spectrum Auction

The FCC's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) auction drew to a close, raising a total of $44.899 billion. A total of 1,611 licenses total were, covering 65 MHz of spectrum in the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz bands ("AWS-3" bands). The 1695-1710 MHz band is authorized for low-power mobile transmit (i.e., uplink) operations only. The 1755-1780 MHz frequencies in the paired 1755-1780/2155-2180 MHz band are authorized only for low-power...

Read More

FCC Updates Broadband Definition to 25 Mbps

The FCC updated its definition for broadband to 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. The previous benchmark, set in 2010, was 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up. The FCC also released the following stats on broadband adoption: 17 percent of all Americans (55 million people) lack access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps service.  53 percent of rural Americans (22 million people) lack access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps.  By contrast, only 8 percent of urban Americans lack access...

Read More

VMware's vCloud Air to Deliver Google Cloud Services

VMware will deliver Google Cloud Platform services via its vCloud Air platform beginning later this year. Existing VMware vCloud Air customers will have access to the new services under their current service contract and existing network interconnect, and simply pay for the Google Cloud Platform services they consume. The initial set of Google Cloud Platform services that will be available on vCloud Air include: Google Cloud Storage - Google's...

Read More

VeloCloud: Variable Performance for Broadband WAN Connections

Businesses relying on broadband lines (DSL, cable, LTE, Ethernet or fiber) continue to experience variable and insufficient performance one-quarter of the time, according to data compiled by VeloCloud Networks. Specifically, the VeloCloud Internet Quality Report for enterprise applications performance measured packet loss and jitter/latency during work hours over Internet WAN connections. Data was gathered by continuous monitoring of VeloCloud’s...

Read More

Mushroom Adds VoIP Performance Mgt to Broadband Bonding

Mushroom Networks introduced a VoIP Armor performance management tool for its Truffle broadband line bonding appliance. Mushroom's VoIP Armor shields the VoIP traffic against any type of WAN link performance fluctuations and link failures. The technology relies on two or more Broadband Bonded Internet links to protect the VoIP packets against loss, delay and jitter as well as against starvation from other cross traffic. The company said this approach...

Read More

Amazon Notes Some AWS Growth Metrics

In its quarterly financial report, Amazon disclosed that AWS now has over one million active customers (including trial accounts), with usage growth close to 90% year-over-year for the fourth quarter. The company notes that AWS delivered over 515 significant service and feature releases in 2014 (up more than 80% year-over-year), and that is third annual customer conference attracted more than 13,500 attendees from 63 countries. Amazon does not...

Read More

DOCOMO Bundles "Hikari" Fiber Broadband Service

NTT DOCOMO will begin offering "docomo Hikari" optical-fiber broadband service alongside its mobile offerings. The optical-fiber service will offer individuals and companies unlimited Internet connection at speeds of up to 1 Gbps. Customers will not have to contract with a separate Internet service provider (ISP) since they can simply select from among many available ISPs. https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/hikari/index.ht...

Read More

Vodafone Tests 400G Transmission with Alcatel-Lucent

Vodafone Spain has successfully tested 400G optical transmission between Madrid and Zaragoza using existing optical infrastructure. The trial was conducted with Alcatel-Lucent’s 400G technology on Vodafone Spain’s existing Dispersion Compensation Module network over a span of 400km. The companies said the trial demonstrated the ability of an existing optical network to carry up 17.6 Tbps of traffic, doubling the current spectral efficiency in fiber. Alcatel-Lucent’s...

Read More

FCC Updates E911 Indoor Location Rules

The FCC updated its E911 rules to include requirements focused on indoor location accuracy for helping emergency responders find 911 callers. The FCC said its new rules establish clear and measureable timelines for wireless providers to meet indoor location accuracy benchmarks, both for horizontal and vertical location information. The Commission noted that no single technological approach will solve the challenge of indoor location, and no solution...

Read More

Radisys Intros Data Plane Load Balancer

Radisys introduced its FlowEngine TDE-1000 Intelligent Load Balancer for software defined networks (SDN) in both data centers and telecommunications environments. The TDE-1000 is a 3U platform that delivers wire speed IP packet classification and flow-based load balancing.  It is capable of distributing up to 1.2 Tbps of aggregate traffic across any third-party NFV infrastructure. It offloads Layer 2-4 network services, making VNF resource...

Read More

Broadcom Posts Q4 Revenue of $2.14 Billion, up 3.8% YoY

Broadcom reported Q4 2014 revenue of $2.14 billion, a decrease of 5.2% compared with the $2.26 billion reported for the third quarter of 2014 and an increase of 3.8% compared with the $2.06 billion reported for the fourth quarter of 2013. Net income (GAAP) for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $390 million, or $0.64 per share (diluted), compared with GAAP net income of $98 million, or $0.16 per share (diluted), for the third quarter of 2014 and GAAP...

Read More

Aviat Reports Revenue of $92.5 million

Aviat Networks reported quarterly revenue of $92.5 million, compared with $85.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Aviat reported net loss, including discontinued operations, of $(3.3) million, or $(0.05) per share, compared with a net loss of $(9.9) million, or $(0.16) per share, in the year-ago quarter. Loss from continuing operations for the quarter was $(3.2) million, or $(0.05) per share, compared with a loss from continuing operations of $(10.2)...

Read More

Blueprint: Top Three 2015 Predictions for Wi-Fi Networks

by Bruce Miller, Vice President of Product Marketing, Xirrus Analysts predict that by 2018, there will be more than 10 billion mobile-ready devices and connections - about three billion more than now. Further 2018 predictions expect mobile IP traffic will reach an annual run rate of 190 exabytes, up from less than 18 exabytes in 2013. New and innovative Wi-Fi technology must be used to manage the massive increase in mobile data traffic. Wireless...

Read More

CommScope to Acquire TE Connectivity's Telecom, Enterprise and Wireless Units

CommScope agreed to acquire TE Connectivity’s telecom, enterprise and wireless businesses for $3 billion in cash. TE Connectivity's telecom, enterprise and wireless businesses generated annual revenues of approximately $1.9 billion in its fiscal year ended September 26, 2014, consisting of $1.1 billion from its telecom business, where it is a world leader; $627 million from enterprise; and $164 million from wireless. TE Connectivity holds approximately...

Read More

Qualcomm Trims Financial Guidance

Qualcomm trimmed its revenue outlook for the second half of the fiscal year saying a major customer will likely not use its Snapdragon 810 processor for its flagship smartphone. "We delivered a strong quarter, achieving record quarterly revenues and Non-GAAP operating income, and we also are very pleased to have resolved our previously disclosed dispute with a licensee in China," said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm. "Looking ahead, we have lowered...

Read More

Facebook Tops 745 Million Mobile Daily Active Users

Facebook continues to add users across all regions of the world.  The number of daily active users (DAUs) now exceeds 890 million, an increase of 18% year-over-year, while the number of monthly active users (MAUs) topped 1.39 billion as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 13% year-over-year. Mobile DAUs were 745 million on average for December 2014, an increase of 34% year-over-year. Mobile MAUs were 1.19 billion as of December 31, 2014,...

Read More

Obsidian Plans 400G InfiniBand for the WAN

Obsidian Strategics, a privately-held company based in Canada that offers InfiniBand products featuring range extension, routing and encryption, announced plans for a new platform that will take InfiniBand to 400 Gbps rates over WAN distances. Obsidian's Longbow technology allows an InfiniBand fabric -- normally a short-range network (up to 17m) used in supercomputers and data centers -- to be securely extended via optical fiber over global distances....

Read More

Gigamon to Deliver Traffic Visibility for White Box Hardware

Gigamon plans to offer its GigaVUE-OS software on select third party 'white box' hardware. Gigamon said the new release for white box hardware will work seamlessly with the existing components of its Visibility Fabric, allowing Web-scale data center operators to expand the scope and scale of monitoring while retaining the functionality, agility and scale of visibility they have come to expect from a Gigamon fabric. The new offering will be compatible...

Read More

6WIND Launches Turbo Router and Turbo IPsec Software Appliances

6WIND introduced Turbo Router and Turbo IPsec software appliances for standard x86 servers within bare metal and virtual machine (VM) environments. The company claims that its Turbo Router can deliver up to twice the performance at ¼ the price, compared to competing software routers. Compared to hardware-based IPsec Gateways, 6WIND’s Turbo IPsec can save 80% of the cost per gigabit of IPsec throughput. The new Speed Series Turbo Appliances, which...

Read More

Dell’Oro: Microwave Transmission Equipment Market Improves

The point-to-point microwave transmission market is forecast to generate approximately $21 billion in equipment revenue over the next five years, according to a new report by Dell’Oro Group. “The environment for microwave transmission equipment began to improve in 2014.  We believe this positive trend will last for a few more years as operators continue to roll out new cell sites and upgrade to 4G LTE,” said Jimmy Yu, Vice President of Microwave...

Read More

NTT Com Offers Low Latency Interconnect to Singapore Exchange

NTT Communications is teaming up with the Japan Exchange Group (JPX) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to launch of the lowest latency direct connect between the colocation facilities of JPX and SGX. The service will start from April 2015. The connectivity is delivered via NTT Com’s own Asia Submarine Cable Express (ASE), which provides the shortest cable route available between Japan and Singapore.  JPX-SGX Co-Location Direct will provide low-latency...

Read More

Allied Fiber Signs Telefonica Global for Dark Fiber in Florida

Allied Fiber announced a 20-year agreement with Telefonica Global Solutions to provide dark fiber in the United States, as well as neutral colocation and interconnection services which will strengthen Telefonica's International infrastructures in America. Allied Fiber will provide Telefonica with dedicated access and use of its own physical network infrastructure within the Allied Fiber system enabling greater control of service provisioning, network...

Read More

Lattice Semi to Acquire Silicon Image for $600 Million

Lattice Semiconductor agreed to acquire Silicon Image in an all-cash tender offer of $7.30 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $600 million (or approximately $450 million on an enterprise value basis). Silicon Image, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, led the creation of the HDMI, DVI and MHL standards, and is a driving force behind the WirelessHD standard. In addition, Silicon Image offers manufacturers comprehensive...

Read More

Blueprint: Tips for Avoiding a Data Center Blizzard

by Jeff Klaus, General Manager of DCM Solutions, Intel We're in the depth of winter and, yes, the snow can be delightful… until you have to move your car or walk a half block on icy streets. Inside the datacenter, the IT Wonderland might lack snowflakes but everyday activities are even more challenging year round. Instead of snowdrifts and ice, tech teams are faced with mountains of data. So what are the datacenter equivalents of snowplows, shovels,...

Read More

AT&T Repositions as Revenue Stream to Shift

AT&T expects a significant shift in its revenue stream from consumer mobile to business services, TV, broadband and international projects. In its quarterly earnings report, AT&T said its recent acquisitions in Mexico and its pending acquisition of DIRECTV will diversify the company and expand its range. “Over the last year, we’ve made several moves to significantly transform our business for the future” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T...

Read More